Some policy goals, such as protecting transgender rights, are only now being addressed in New York, while other states are eliminating protections. LGBTQ leaders struggled for decades to alter public opinion and enact gay rights laws. Coming out is now a choice that many – though not all – can make without fear.īut those changes didn’t happen overnight. The NYC Pride March, the featured event at the 2019 WorldPride celebration, has gone mainstream. Same-sex marriage is the law of the land. The violent confrontation that ensued spurred other protests, led to the formation of gay rights groups and, a year later, was commemorated with the first Pride March in New York City.įive decades later, the LGBTQ community has accomplished a great deal. On a Friday night in June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn and threw out gay customers – not an uncommon practice at the time – but on this occasion, they faced resistance. Shop with Pride! Commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and the dawn of the modern LGBTQ Rights movement with our exclusive T-shirt, thoughtful gifts, informative books, and more! Browse in the NYHistory Store now.June 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ rights. By the Force of Our Presence: Highlights from the Lesbian Herstory Archives is curated by the Lesbian Herstory Archives Graphics Committee-Elvis Bakaitis, Flavia Rando, Ashley-Luisa Santangelo and Saskia Scheffer-and coordinated by the Center for Women’s History. Mellon Foundation predoctoral fellow in women’s history. Stonewall 50 at New-York Historical Society is collaboratively curated by Rebecca Klassen, New-York Historical assistant curator of material culture, and from the Center for Women’s History, Jeanne Gardner Gutierrez, curatorial scholar in women’s history, and Rachel Corbman, Andrew W.
The exhibition begins with gay bars in the 1950s and 1960s continues through the rise of the gay liberation movement and the emergence of LGBTQ clubs as places of community activism. Serving as oases of expression, resilience, and resistance, LGBTQ bars, clubs, and nightlife spaces were hard-won in the face of policing, unfavorable public policies, and Mafia control. Letting Loose and Fighting Back: LGBTQ Nightlife Before and After Stonewall highlights the ways in which nightlife has been critical in shaping LGBTQ identity, building community, developing political awareness, and fostering genres of creative expression that have influenced popular culture worldwide. A grassroots organization established in 1974 in response to the widespread erasure of lesbian lives and voices, the Lesbian Herstory Archives houses the world’s largest collection of materials by and about lesbians.The exhibition features photographs, books and manuscripts, periodicals, posters, flyers, and clothes.Ī special installation, Say It Loud, Out and Proud: Fifty Years of Pride, features imagery from New York City Pride marches and other LGBTQ protests from the 1960s to the present day, as well as a timeline of milestones and objects from LGBTQ history. Stonewall 50 at New-York Historical Society features two exhibitions and a special installation, as well as public programs for all ages.īy the Force of Our Presence: Highlights from the Lesbian Herstory Archives, curated by the Lesbian Herstory Archives Graphics Committee, highlights community-building, organization, and networking within the LGBTQ movement with a focus on the contributions of lesbians and queer women. New-York Historical Society commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and the dawn of the gay liberation movement this summer, as New York City welcomes WorldPride, the largest Pride celebration in the world.